Tight fits, aluminum, anodize and galling

Then why do they use aluminum for light bulb bases? I would pay an extra couple of cents for a brass socket. Sounds like a great place for a class action suit against bulb manufacturers by all who have cut their fingers on the bulb after the base gets stuck in the socket. I mean, what expert witness could deny that aluminum is an awful choice?

Aluminum is a very active metal and untreated aluminum will quickly corrode with white corrosion pores that could presumably be .001" high, so that isn't the answer. But MIL-C-5541 chromate conversion coating might be fine, and there are any number of non-chromate corrosion inhibitors available from such companies as Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser], International Chemical Products, and Sanchem which might provide sufficient corrosion resistance.

Yes, you would be willing to pay a few more cents for brass. That's why some manufacturers work so hard to use exactly the right chromates and dyes that their aluminum bulb bases will look enough like brass to hoodwink you :-)

I haven't personally cut myself removing a broken bulb in several years, so I can't join that hypothetical class action suit. But using metal finishing to dupe the consumer should be punished rather than rewarded, and it is a continual petty aggravation to constantly struggle with stuck bulbs because aluminum is disguised to look like brass although it doesn't function like brass, so I'd love to see the suit go forward :-)

Count me in on that. I can't understand why the bulb manufacturers are not required to use the Best Available Technology.

Ever since Congress passed the law to dictate what type bulbs we use, the companies who make incandescents have been shutting down their lines, or moving offshore. I believe it is for that reason that some incandescents are getting harder and harder to find, even bulbs of lower wattage than the ban entails. We can't find brass based 40W incandescents for our JennAire oven. Florescent bulbs won't handle the heat. Nor I doubt, will LED or Halogen bulbs. JennAire insists on brass bases, because the heat will weld an aluminum base bulb into the socket.

I've driven to at least 12 different stores. If it was the intention of congress to reduce power consumption, they haven't done it, because I've used at least 4 gallons of gas doing this. While we won't probably toss our modern stove for lack of a bulb. I imagine quite a few Americans will just buy a new stove, and send the old one to the dump prematurely. What is THAT going to do for the environment?

Besides the problem with oven bulbs, I have noticed that the florescent bulbs won't start up in any application where it's too cold - like the unheated crawlspaces we have in some areas of our plant. They also won't survive the high temperatures of the rooms we use to cure our coatings on circuit boards. And they won't take the vibration of certain types of machinery.

Congress should get out of the business of mandating technology!

Hi, Jim.

Yes they should, but they won't because we keep voting for democrats and republicans no matter how poorly served we are.

I use mostly CFLs and a few LEDs, but where incandescents are appropriate, that's what I want to use. As small electric heaters, incandescent bulbs are ultra efficient, ultra cheap, ultra reliable, ultra compact, and ultra safe. We'll now have to buy dangerous, clunky, expensive, non-waterproof electric heaters for those small heating jobs (like germinating seeds) that incandescent bulbs were doing so wonderfully.

Regards,

You're absolutely right, they do make good localized heaters! Lost in all the talk about the low efficiency of incandescent bulbs is the fact that the energy isn't always wasted - especially in the northern climates. Incandescent bulbs heat our rooms during the winter. How much energy are we going to save, if instead of sitting under that warm reading lamp, we get up, and reset the thermostat to warm up the entire house?